Avengers #1.1 spoilers

[Witchfan]

Read and discuss. This is a look back on the second Avengers team that began in Avengers #16.

[Frontier]

I thought this was a fun issue. It's always nice to see writers play with the classic Avengers and early periods of their careers, and Waid has been doing a good job of that over the course of his run with the book. In particular it's neat to go back to one of the hallmark Avenger era's in the Kooky Quartet and look at it from a modern context, albeit filtered thought a nostalgic and classic lens .

The art is also a nice treat. Very solid and attractive work .

Now there's the Hawkeye I know and love. I missed seeing Clint in a proper costume and acting like the showman and awesomely cocky Superhero with an attitude and heart of gold that he should be .

Y'know, the scene at the press conference reminded me about something I've been wondering about...were Wanda and Pietro pardoned for the crimes they committed working for Magneto? Because if not, then how would they be able to act publicly with The Avengers if they were publicly wanted terrorists? Does becoming an Avenger grant you some kind of free amnesty for your crimes (though now that I think about it...)? Tony at least probably got any criminal charges filed against Hawkeye dropped.

I liked seeing the classic Avengers vs. a classic Masters of Evil roster, and I like Waid using Wasp as a narrator. Really interested to see what his plans are for Wasp in this book, since it seems like she'll be getting involved in things for the next issue.

The original Frightful Four, complete with Medusa, as antagonists was also an interesting choice for antagonists.

[Digifiend]

The Masters of Evil fight was a retelling of part of Avengers 15, by the way. They did change bits from the original 60s issues though. How Cap first meets the new team is different, Rick Jones has been excised, and the Kooky Quartet didn't fight the Frightful Four in any classic issues (in fact, their appearances against any enemy other than the Fantastic Four are few and far between).

[Michael Watkins]

I thought this was a fun issue. It's always nice to see writers play with the classic Avengers and early periods of their careers, and Waid has been doing a good job of that over the course of his run with the book. In particular it's neat to go back to one of the hallmark Avenger era's in the Kooky Quartet and look at it from a modern context, albeit filtered thought a nostalgic and classic lens .

The art is also a nice treat. Very solid and attractive work .

Now there's the Hawkeye I know and love. I missed seeing Clint in a proper costume and acting like the showman and awesomely cocky Superhero with an attitude and heart of gold that he should be .

Y'know, the scene at the press conference reminded me about something I've been wondering about...were Wanda and Pietro pardoned for the crimes they committed working for Magneto? Because if not, then how would they be able to act publicly with The Avengers if they were publicly wanted terrorists? Does becoming an Avenger grant you some kind of free amnesty for your crimes (though now that I think about it...)? Tony at least probably got any criminal charges filed against Hawkeye dropped.

I don't know about full pardons. but the Avengers vouched for them. being accepted into the ranks cleared them of any past charges.

[gurkle]

I thought it was fun, though I find something "off" about Waid's attempts at old-fashioned comic-booky dialogue. Even though he's considered kind of a retro writer I think he's stronger at modern dialogue.

Y'know, the scene at the press conference reminded me about something I've been wondering about...were Wanda and Pietro pardoned for the crimes they committed working for Magneto? Because if not, then how would they be able to act publicly with The Avengers if they were publicly wanted terrorists?

In the original story, we're told that the X-Men vouched for them being reformed. This was before the X-Men were considered a menace by the Marvel Universe media.

[Mary Jay]

I liked seeing the classic Avengers vs. a classic Masters of Evil roster, and I like Waid using Wasp as a narrator. Really interested to see what his plans are for Wasp in this book, since it seems like she'll be getting involved in things for the next issue.

I'll be able to read it in a bit, since I ordered it but my LCS guy forgot to put it on my list... but reading all of you makes me very looking forward to reading it!!

I do have a question, not sure if you or someone else can answer it. How can Wasp be the narrator, since she had left the team at that point and wasn't there? If memory serves, she went to participate in some scientific study with Hank, at sea, and was later captured by Attuma, which led her and Hank to rejoin the Avengers after she had been saved.

Or maybe that's the kind of continuity they decided to let go of, even if that would be surprising coming from Waid. He seems to be respectful of continuity...

[Frontier]

I'll be able to read it in a bit, since I ordered it but my LCS guy forgot to put it on my list... but reading all of you makes me very looking forward to reading it!!

I do have a question, not sure if you or someone else can answer it. How can Wasp be the narrator, since she had left the team at that point and wasn't there? If memory serves, she went to participate in some scientific study with Hank, at sea, and was later captured by Attuma, which led her and Hank to rejoin the Avengers after she had been saved.

Or maybe that's the kind of continuity they decided to let go of, even if that would be surprising coming from Waid. He seems to be respectful of continuity...

Waid might be taking some liberties, but the perspective is from Jan just as the founding Avengers are leaving the team and right when the Kooky Quartet debuts, so it may be right before she went out with Hank.

[Mary Jay]

Waid might be taking some liberties, but the perspective is from Jan just as the founding Avengers are leaving the team and right when the Kooky Quartet debuts, so it may be right before she went out with Hank.

Okay, thanks In any case, I'm really looking forward to reading it!!

[Digifiend]

Waid might be taking some liberties, but the perspective is from Jan just as the founding Avengers are leaving the team and right when the Kooky Quartet debuts, so it may be right before she went out with Hank.

The Attuma stuff already happened. That was in Tales to Astonish 64. Hank's new costume debuts in Tales to Astonish 65, and is then used in Avengers 15 and 16. In Tales to Astonish 69, Hank retires from superheroics for health reasons - he appears with Wasp out of costume in Sub-Mariner's story in Tales to Astonish 77 and 78 (this is the scientific study you referred to, Mary Jay), and then returns in Avengers 26 as Goliath.

[Apama]

I thought this was a fun issue. It's always nice to see writers play with the classic Avengers and early periods of their careers, and Waid has been doing a good job of that over the course of his run with the book. In particular it's neat to go back to one of the hallmark Avenger era's in the Kooky Quartet and look at it from a modern context, albeit filtered thought a nostalgic and classic lens.

The art is also a nice treat. Very solid and attractive work.

Now there's the Hawkeye I know and love. I missed seeing Clint in a proper costume and acting like the showman and awesomely cocky Superhero with an attitude and heart of gold that he should be.

I couldn't agree with you more. This is the Hawkeye I know and love as well. When I first heard about this series way back when, I knew this would hit all the right buttons and the first issue didn't disappoint. Even seeing Br'er Hawkeye getting strangled by Medusa was an awesome moment, reminded me of how ol' Clint would have acted in those early days when he was young and brash, heading straight into the thick of the battle and being severely overpowered by a stronger opponent (although most times Hawkeye would actually come out on top, that's just a part of his awesomeness ).

Cap's Kooky Quartet was and is one of my favourite iteration of the Avengers lineup, so this series already won me over from the start. Ah, the nostalgic memories reading them in black and white in the old Marvel Essentials TPBs of yesteryear lol. Oh and I really enjoyed the throwback to the letters page, nice touch there from editorial .

Can't wait to see what's in store for this series and how it'll play out with the current Marvel Universe timeline. I really hope this title enjoys a long run but the nature of it being a retelling of a past era might hinder it's ability to advance much in terms of story progression. We'll have to wait and see but I'll surely be there for the long haul... 'Nuff Said!

[motteditor]

I agree it was so nice to see the real Hawkeye instead of whatever they've been writing as Clint for the last however many years.

Also nice to see the real Wasp -- and see her in more of a protagonist role (since the writing on the character from that era hasn't really aged very well, at all).

[Digifiend]

Hawkeye changed when he got killed in Avengers Disassembled didn't he? When he returned after House of M, things went downhill fast. Civil War, Secret Invasion (at the end of which, he found out his dead ex-wife was alive, having been impersonated by a Skrull), Dark Reign. He realised he wasn't invincible, that probably changed his outlook and made him less cocky and arrogant. And at that point he wasn't even buddies with Kate - initially, he probably felt like he'd been replaced, he used the Ronin identity for a while and only became Hawkeye again in Heroic Age, which is also around the time he became her mentor.

As for Wasp, yeah, she was treated as a sidekick, not an equal, back then - Rick Jones even cited this once as a reason why he, like Wasp, should be an official Avenger. And she was always talking lovey dovey about "High-Pockets" Hank.

[Witchfan]

In the original issues, Wasp was regarded as Ant-Man's sidekick, and an extension of Ant-Man. She was only a half member. She was also quite weak. She didn't have her energy stings. In these new stories they elevate her status and make her look better than she was.

[Digifiend]

She did have the stings by this point, but hadn't had them long.

[Mary Jay]

In the original issues, Wasp was regarded as Ant-Man's sidekick, and an extension of Ant-Man. She was only a half member. She was also quite weak. She didn't have her energy stings. In these new stories they elevate her status and make her look better than she was.

I think it changed after she and Hank came back in issue #27. They were still a sort of "team within a team", but it felt as though the others treated her more as an equal member than the simple sidekick of one of their members. At least that's the way I view it.